1. The Trump campaign is going to lean in heavily to linking Biden to China ("Beijing Biden") because it's usefully unifies Trumpian passions: xenophobia, protectionism, elite corruption (Hunter Biden's business ties), and deflection of blame for Trump's blunders.
2. The Trump campaign is latching on to China because it's a useful wedge issue to divide Democratic coalition, which in fact has contradictory factions on key China issues (free traders & protectionists, hawks & doves, xenophobes & anti-racists).
3. What Biden has going for him is that Trump himself is on shaky grounds on China, riven by exploitable contradictions (the protectionism undermined by currying favor with Xi). Beyond that, there's the simple fact Trump has botched the pandemic response in horrifying ways.
4. The recent Biden ad has a few good things: it hits on the contradictions between Trump's rhetoric and his behavior. The problem is that it leaves open Biden's own weakness (his trade history) and echoes Trump's xenophobia (in a way that divides Biden's coalition).
5. The simple fact is the pandemic is making clear huge problems in existing globalization, a system Biden has spent decades supporting. He needs to figure out how to address that & also eschew xenophobia. More thoughts here: thenation.com/article/politi…
